Handheld
by King Saige
Summary: "All I ever wanted as a kid was a family who wanted me back." Skye admitted quietly. "And twenty years later, that still hasn't changed." Lydia sighed. "Skye, when are you gonna figure it out? You have a family; S.H.I.E.L.D., this team...we're a family and that's something that will never change."
1. Hacker Meet Hacktivist

Also, I have no idea how to hack anything and I can barely figure out how to make my screen brighter. For the technical talk, I just traded in some smaller words for bigger, technical words that mean the same thing and tried to make sure the made sense.

I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

 _In the practice of tolerance, ones enemy is the best teacher_  
\- The Dalai Lama

* * *

I was being followed.

Sorry, didn't mean to start off my story on such an...ominous note, but I couldn't find another place to start it. I could've started when I woke up at two AM after a meager four hours of sleep, but I doubted you wanted to read about me laying in bed for five hours before it was time for me to get up and dressed for work.

Anyway, back to the story.

It was around seven thirty and I was about a block away from my crappy apartment when I stopped to tie my shoe and I saw that three men in suits (think Men In Black, not Wolf of Wall Street) had stopped as well.

Right now is where I should probably mention that I'm a paranoid person; I have seven different locks on my front door, I sleep with the lights on, I never closed my clear shower curtains or the door to my closet and the slightest creak will wake me up in the middle of the night- hence the two AM wake up time.

I kept walking and tried not to let it bother me that those men had stopped, but that was hard to do when I saw them right behind me despite the two turns I took and the three stops. I just continued hoping that they would pass and leave me alone, but I knew that wouldn't be happening during my last spontaneous stop when I saw the outline of a gun on one of the guys ankles.

I knew they were here for me, but I was prepared.

Picking up my pace just a bit, I managed to turn a corner causing them to lose sight of me for a few seconds. As soon as I knew I was out of sight, I ran as fast as I could and rushed into the alleyway. By the time I was crawling into the very disgusting dumpster, I knew that they had already turn the corner and were wondering where I was. Only a moment later I heard them shuffling into the alley.

They lingered for a couple of minutes- never once thinking to check in the dumpster- before leaving. Like I told you earlier; I'm paranoid, so I stayed in the dumpster for also an hour before climbing out when a homeless man opened up the lid. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw me, but I made it up by giving him all the money in my pocket and wallet (a grand total of seventy four bucks and five cents) and all the contents of my purse before heading back to my apartment. I wouldn't be needing any of that anymore.

Unfortunately, after losing me on my way to work the three agents positioned themselves in front of my building so I was forced to take the fire escape all the way up to my apartment on the sixth floor and climbing in through my window.

Immediately upon entering, I went to my dresser and changed out of my uniform. It had been covered in dumpster stains, but I didn't have time to shower. After pulling my boots back on, I went to my bed and pulled out the black duffel bag from underneath and unzipped it.

Inside were several different passports and IDs each with a different name, five grand in cash and a gun with a matching clip. I told you that I had been prepared.

I was just about to put my gun back into my bag when I heard the faintest creaking noise come from the direction of my closet. Only a fraction of a second later I had shoved my clip into the gun before pointing it at the closed door of my closet.

"Come out now or I'll shoot." I threatened. I listened, but heard no movement from inside. "Don't make the mistake of thinking that I'm joking." I clicked off the saftey. "You have until the count of three; One...two-"

I stopped counting as the door to the closet opened very slowly to reveal yet another man wearing a black suit and he had his hands up. He seemed a bit familiar, but I knew that I had never seen him before. The faces of everyone who had even tracked or 'checked up' on me had blended together so now all I saw was a black suit. My mind barely registered the fact that he was older with thinning light brown hair and brown eyes, but I knew I could always remember his face if I needed to.

"Why are you here?" I asked. He didn't seem concerned that there was a gun before pointed at him. He was just...calm.

"You should really put that gun down." He said and I quirked an eyebrow.

"And you shouldn't hide in women's closets." I shot back. "Now I'm gonna ask one more time; Why are you here?"

"I just want to talk." He insisted as I made the way to the other side of my bed that was right next to the bathroom door. I didn't have a phone, land or mobile, but I did have a pair of handcuffs in the bathroom (don't ask). How I was going to get them without taking my eyes off of him I'd never know.

"I don't want to talk." I informed him. "I just want to be left alone to live my life. Why can't you people understand that?"

"You know, this conversation would be much easier to have if you put down your weapon." I scoffed.

"That's not an option."

"And that's not a request." He looked pointedly away from me and at the bathroom door. I followed his gaze to see that the door was now open and there was another suit clad man inside and pointing his weapon at me. Of course he had backup.

Knowing I had no other choice, I raised my hands up to the sides with my gun pointed at the ceiling and the bathroom agent quickly took it before cuffing my hands behind my back.

So much for being prepared.

* * *

Let me tell you a little something about an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D.

They sucked.

Oh, you thought I was going to go on and on about how they wronged me and how I wanted to take their entire organization down? Well, the first part is true, they did wrong me, but I didn't care about the organization enough to want it take down. I just wanted them to leave me alone although I knew that would never happen.

After being handcuffed in my own apartment, the agents took me to the SUV that was on and parked in front of my building. As soon I was helped inside by the younger of the two agents, he put a bag over my head.

Neither of them talked the entire car ride and neither did I. I was too busy keeping track of the turns we took, the stops- how long they lasted- and how long we drove. That was how I remembered my way home from school as a kid every time I was moved to a new foster home and it had yet to fail me.

When we did stop, I had no idea where we were- mostly because of the bag- and all I could hear were very loud engines. I assumed that they belonged to a plane because I was walked up a ramp and then taken up a set of swirling stairs before they walked me in a straight line for a bit. Finally we stopped and I stood for a moment as a door was opened and the next thing I knew I was sitting in a chair in a room with a very weird honeycomb pattern on the walls and floors.

The young agent untied me as the older one sat down across the table from me.

"Why am I here?" I asked immediately, my eyes look from the older agent to the younger one and back. "I haven't done anything wrong."

"Considering you've fallen off of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar and every trace of Sabrina Evans disappeared from DMV records, hospital records and even your spin class, I beg to differ." He replied looking down at the open file in front of him. I could see the picture of me inside back when my hair was long, wavy and a beautiful mixture of different dark browns. A box of black hair dye and the right makeup techniques did wonders. "So tell me..." He closed the file and met my eye. "What happened Sabrina?"

"Do not call me that." I snapped. "Sabrina Evans never existed."

"Sorry," He apologized although I can see he was humoring me. "You go by Lydia now, don't you?" I just stared at him. "Lydia Carlisle."

"What do you want from me?" I asked again. "Sure- yeah, I did disappear despite the fact that I was supposed to stay in that crappy little matchbox I called an apartment, but I've followed the rule S.H.I.E.L.D. gave me; I haven't touched a computer or cell phone in years." I held up my wrist, showing off the silver, metal bracelet that decorated it. "You guys made sure of that. So what else could I possible give you? I've already given up my life and my freedom- I don't have anything else to give."

The agent stared at me for a few moments in silence, just watching me as I stared back at him before he grabbed my wrist and pulled it across the table to him.

"What are you doing?" I demanded as I tried to pull my hand back.

"Deactivate." Suddenly I heard a small clicking noise and the bracelet was pulled from my wrist, leaving it bare. Was that really all that needed to be said to get that freedom sucker off my wrist?

Despite the fact that he had just freed me, I was still wary. "Why did you do that?" I asked, pulling my arm back and he gave me a smile.

"Because," He began. "S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped you from using your skills in the past, but now...now we want you to use them to help us."

* * *

"So let me get this straight." I looked from the older agent- Coulson, his name was- to the younger who was called Ward. "I find this guy for you and I never have to worry about S.H.I.E.L.D. coming after me again?"

That had been the deal they offered me after taking off my bracelet. Apparently there was some guy out there with super strength and S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to find him before anyone else did. They had given me the first video that popped up online showing him jumping from a burning building with a chick in his arms and they wanted me to find him on that. I mean, I was eighty percent sure I could do it, but I wanted to make sure I didn't get screwed over...again.

"Right." Coulson confirmed. "As long as you don't go around hacking into banks or security alarms, we should be fine." I snapped my fingers.

"Darn." I shook my head. "There goes my evening plans." Neither agent was amused. I sighed. "I've gone almost ten years without touching a computer, phone- basically anything electronic. I'm sure I can refrain myself."

Coulson nodded at Ward who then put the laptop on the table in front of me- yes, I was still in their metal beehive prison because, apparently, I couldn't be trusted not to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.- and I cracked my fingers before getting started.

"How long is going to take?" Ward asked as I continued tapping on the keyboard and I rolled my eyes. I had only been on the computer for ten minutes and he was already starting to get antsy.

"If you're bored, you can always go and get me some coffee." I informed him as I finished the search. I had officially found the person who posted the video and I also had proof that she knew Superhoodie, but I wasn't going to tell them that until I was good and ready. I went eight years without touching a computer, they could wait half an hour for results.

Realizing that Ward hadn't left the room, I stopped typing and looked up at him. "That wasn't a suggestion, Secret Agent Man." Ward glared at me and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he caught Coulson's eye.

Ten minutes later (Ward was really slow) I was loudly drinking some really bad coffee with my feet up on the table. Ward glared at my the entire time, but I never broke eye contact. Annoying him was fun.

"Are you finished yet?" He gritted out. "If you don't remember, you're supposed to be finding someone; You know, actually being useful."

"Oh, Superhoodie?" I asked. "Yeah, I found him and his friend about twelve minutes ago."

"What?" Ward was practically seething now. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Would you have gone to get me coffee if I did?" I asked, already knowing the answer before taking another sip while Ward physically restrained himself from attacking me. "Your brewing skills suck BT-dubs."

Ward started forward, but Coulson put a hand on his chest, clearly telling him to chill the hell out. "Where is he?" Coulson asked. "And who is his friend?"

"I never said I knew where he was." I reminded them as I lowered my feet down to the ground and placed my coffee on the table. "I said that I found him. The first video of him went up about ten minutes before any of the others so I started with that. The video had the same cryptographic signature as a few anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. posts-"

"From who?" Ward asked, suddenly more interested in that instead of hating me.

"Some chick from a group called the Rising Tide." I told him before turning back to the computer. "Catchy, right? Anyway, it wasn't that hard to hack into her phone and turn on the tracking feature for her Google account. After that, I just got her location and sent it to both your phones, but I also took a look inside her Gallery and she's got a lot of long range pictures of some guy. I don't have an ID on him yet, but I running him through every database in America."

"Even S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Coulson asked as he peaked at the screen and I shook my head.

"I got done running him through the S.H.I.E.L.D. database thirty seconds ago and you've got nothing on him." I told him. "My guess is that he's a civilian."

"Keep up the good work." Coulson looked to Ward. "Let's go."

"Wait!" I called standing up just as Ward opened the door. "What about me?"

"Get me an ID on Superhoodie and then you can go." He promised before leaving. Ward followed behind, closing the door behind him. All the while I only had one thought on my mind;

Was it weird that I felt approval when Coulson used the name I gave the hooded hero?

Coulson and Ward came back about an hour later, but they weren't alone. With them was some poor, I'm guessing woman from the body, with a bag over her head. Correctly assuming that they would want to put her in my seat, despite the fact that there was one on the other side of the table, I stood up and went to leave, but Coulson closed the door before I could.

He didn't actually want me to stay for this poor chick's interrogation...did he?

With a reluctant sigh, I settled for leaning against the wall well to the door as Ward ripped the bag off of the chick's head and shoved her into my vacant seat. That when I noticed a slight crunching sound underneath my feet. Moving it a bit, I saw a piece of old yellow paper that had been folded up and quickly picked it up while Ward and Coulson were focused on the girl. She must've dropped it, but I wasn't about to give it back to her yet.

Slipping the paper into the pocket of my shorts, I returned my attention to the agents and the girl.

She was pretty; dark brown eyes, slightly tanned skin, brown hair and a body type similar to mine- although, I could tell my boobs were bigger. A bit of info to the guys out there; boobs and ass are to chicks as dicks are to dudes.

"You guys are making a big mistake." Was the first thing she said.

"You don't look that big." Did Ward just make a joke? Good for him, I knew he wasn't completely dead inside.

"Sorry for the lack of finesse." Coulson, ever the gentleman, apologized. "Agent Ward here has had a little history with your group; The Rising Tide."

Despite the fact that she probably knew that we already knew she was Rising Tide, the girl tried to deny it. "I-I don't know what..."

"Okay," Ward said, cutting her off. Not even twenty seconds into the interrogation and he was getting restless. He should work on his patience. "There are two ways we can do this."

"Oh," Now the girl had an amused smile on her face at she looked to Ward. I didn't blame her for taking that as a joke, I would've too. "Is one them the easy way?"

"No."

"Oh." Way to kill the mood Ward.

"What's your name?" Coulson asked gently and, although I hated admitting it, I was starting the realize that Coulson wasn't a bad guy. It would've been a lot easier to hate him if he was, at least, as jerk-y as Ward, but Coulson was like a puppy who crapped in your favorite shoes; you know you should be mad, but you just can't.

"Skye." That was a lie.

Ward, obviously, knew that too. "What's your real name?"

"That can wait." Coulson insisted. "It's another name we need; a certain hero."

"Superhoodie." I couldn't help but blurt out and everyone turned to look at me.

"Oh," Skye was in a joking mood again. "It speaks. I thought you had a silent but deadly thing going for you."

"I'm gonna choose not to take offence to the fact that you just named me after a fart." Yeah, that was my brilliant comeback. "Tell them where Superhoodie is and maybe they'll let you go." Skye rolled her eyes.

"What makes you think that I know who he is?" She questioned.

"Because you have a dozen different pictures of him on your phone." I reminded her as I pushed off the wall. She looked surprised that I knew that. "Each one was taken from a distance because they're candid; not _'oh, I'm going to take a random picture of my boyfriend'_ candid, more _'this guy has no idea I'm following him'_ candid."

"How did you know that?" She asked.

"Hacker to hacker?" She nodded. "The video you uploaded of Superhoodie went up ten minutes before any other video, so I searched for posts with the same cryptographic signature and I found a bunch of your anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. posts- great stuff by the way- most of which were uploaded from your phone which I managed to hack into remotely and turn on the tracking feature on your Google account. "

"How did you hack my phone without knowing what WiFi signal it was hooked up to?" She asked and I shrugged.

"All videos have WiFi connection data info embedded way deep into its code." I told her. " Just sift through until you find it and you can pinpoint where any video was uploaded from by finding it's WiFi source."

"Why didn't I think of that?" She seemed to be speaking more to herself now, but I still answered.

"Most people don't know about it." I replied. "I didn't, I found out about it accidentally when I was trying to find my cheating asshole boyfriend-"

"Are you two done?" Ward's frustrated voice asked and I looked away from Skye and towards Ward who I gave a little glare.

Skye sniffed, no longer distracted by conversation and her face scrunched up. "What's that smell?" I completely forgot about that.

"Oh, that's me." I informed her as I crossed my arms. "Long story short; I hid in a dumpster trying to get away from Men In Black over here." Now Skye looked even more confused.

"You're not S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Waitress. They arrested me the same way they got you." I told her. "Bag over head, hands cuffed- the who enchilada."

"Then why are you here? Questioning me?" She asked and I sighed.

"That is a super long story that I will tell you later if I ever see you again after this." I promised with a nod. That's when I realized that I wasn't leaving until we found Superhoodie and she was the only person who knew who he was. Sure, I was running his picture through DMV records, but there were millions of people in New York, who knew how long that would take. "Look," I said perching on the corner of the table next to Skye. "I will be the first to say the S.H.I.E.L.D. sucks. They basically took away my entire life and they didn't even bother to apologize." I could feel Ward and Coulson both staring at me, but I refused to look away from Skye. "But the things that they do...they do them to protect everyone."

"People fear what they don't know." I told her. "What do you think will happen to your friend when people find out who he is and what he can do?"

"He'll be a hero." Skye said immediately. "He didn't have to go into that building and save that woman, but he did, because he is a good person. He doesn't need S.H.I.E.L.D. or anyone else trying to find him and... _contain_ him."

"That's not what they want to do." I had no idea if that was true, but I said it anyway. "They want to help him."

"How can you honestly say that to me?" Skye asked. "After they kidnapped me- after they kidnapped you! You said they ruined your life-"

"That was years ago." I informed her. "S.H.I.E.L.D., like everything else in the world, is continuously growing and changing and evolving. They're not the same organization they were fifty years ago. Maybe in the past they wanted to detain people who posed a threat, but now...now they just want to help. There are other people out there who don't; they'd rather use your friend instead of helping him become the person he's supposed to be. Even if you don't trust them-" I took her hand. "You can trust me. You know you can."

Skye nodded and pulled her hand from mine. "I do." She confirmed. "I don't know why, but I do trust you and want to believe you about everything you just said." Her eyes went to Ward who stood imposingly behind me. "It's them I can't trust."

* * *

I didn't want to, but Coulson made me leave the interrogation room and he and Ward came out only a few moments later.

Coulson gave me a pair of sweatpants and a gray sweatshirt that had S.H.I.E.L.D. on the front before giving me permission to use their bathroom to get cleaned up. At first I thought I was going to have to take a bird bath in the sink, but- for some reason- they had a shower.

I cannot explain how amazing it feels to go from smelling like a dumpster to smelling like...not dumpster. I also took the time to wash the black temporary hair dye out of my hair, leaving it varying shades of light and dark brown. It would take a few more washes with better soap to get it all out, but it was a start.

I had just left the bathroom, still drying my hair with a towel and my uniform draped over my arm when I ended up almost screaming when I realized Ward was leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Ward, what the hell are you doing?!" I demanded with a glare and he just gave me a smirk back.

"Coulson wanted to make sure you didn't try to sneak off the plane." He explained, but I kept my glare on him. "Don't worry, I didn't peak."

"Like I'm supposed to believe that." I spat out before I began to walk past him. I didn't know where I was supposedly going, but I didn't want to stop and ask him where I should go.

"How'd you do it?" Ward asked before I could turn the corner and I stopped.

"Do what?" I asked turning around to face him. He pushed off the wall and slowly made his way to me with his hands in his pockets.

"Get Skye to trust you." He elaborated. "You two talked for less than five minutes and she ended up trusting you like you were her best friend."

I shrugged. "I guess...I just know how to talk to people like her."

"Hackers?"

"Foster kids." I corrected and he seemed surprised. "When you brought Skye in, she dropped this." I dug into the pocket of my shorts where I had stashed the paper I found earlier and handed it to him. Giving me a confused look, Ward unfolded the paper before reading it.

"Clark's; 5401 Davenport Road, Bennett's; 400 Rover Hill, Wang's; 2920 Newman Square..." Shaking his head, Ward looked back at me. "I don't understand."

"Clark is the name of the family and the rest is the address." I explained. "Most foster kids make lists of the homes they been to and show them to other foster kids so they know what do expect if they go there." I stepped next to Ward so I could see the paper and pointed at one of the names. "See how the Bennett's name and address are written in green?" He nodded. "That means they were good parents. They treated their foster kids like their biological kids and they did for them what any parent would do for their own. The Clark's are colored over in red because they probably yelled a lot or something like that. Red means anger." I explained.

"How do you know all this?" Ward asked, seemingly suspicious and I rolled my eyes.

"It takes a foster kid to know a foster kid." I explained. "I have a list just like this- in fact, I think I recognize a few of these addresses." Taking the list away from Ward, I folded it up and stuffed it into the pockets of my sweatpants so I could remember to give it to Skye later.

"You can't treat Skye like a bad person then expect her to trust and listen to you." I told him as I backed up towards the corner of the hallway. "That's what people did to her up until the day she turned eighteen."

I didn't see Ward again after our talk in the hallway, but I did meet the rest of his team.

I found Coulson and three other people in a room that was in the middle of the plane. There was a large table/computer that they were all standing around. Skye stood by the door I had entered through and I figured that it was better to stay next to her. We were the only two outsiders after all.

"What's going on?" I asked and Skye looked at me.

"I told Agent Coulson Superhoodie's real name." She said and I raised an eyebrow at her as I crossed my own arms.

"I thought you didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Oh, I don't." She confirmed. "But I trust Coulson."

"How'd he get you to do that?"

"He shot Ward up with some magic truth serum and left me alone with him." Dang, I should've held out longer. Maybe Coulson would've done that for me.

"Glad you could join us." Coulson said as he placed a piece of plastic, an ID I figured, on the table and dozens of different things began sprouting from it. I got closer- moving away from Skye- and stopped at the end of the table. The things that had sprouted from the ID were documents of information; a birth certificate, wedding license, social security card- everything.

"Micheal Peterson." Coulson announced as the info came up and began walking around the table, coming to a stop to my right. "Factory worker. Married. One kid. Gets injured, gets laid off and the wife jumps ship." Skye decided to join the briefing and stood between me and an Asian woman who was around Skye's height but, most likely, around Coulson's age. "Good guy, bad breaks. My best guess is that someone came along and said they could make him strong again. Make him super."

"Who has the tech to do that?" The woman next to Skye asked. "And why would they want to?"

"Fitz, what do we have from the security footage?" Coulson asked as he began a stroll around the table again.

I assumed that Fitz was the only other guy in the room who stood next to a woman around Skye and my's age. Fitz tapped something on the screen and it popped up on the large one on the wall. It wasn't much, just two men; one wore a lab coat and the other was jabbing a finger at him.

"What are we seeing?" The Asian woman asked and Fitz looked at her before looking at the screen.

"Well, the...man-" He pointed at jabby finger dude. "Is angry...at the other man." Poetic.

"The data is very corrupt." The woman next to Fitz said. I know I should've been paying attention to the matter at hand, but all I could wonder was if the woman was Fitz' girlfriend. The looked good together.

"Yeah," Fitz scoffed. "Like Cold War, Russia corrupt. I- I can't sync the time code without-"

"What if you have the audio?" Skye asked suddenly and everyone looked at her. "I was running surveillance on the lab. I had my shotgun mic pointed at the window before the blast. The digital file's in my van." She gestured to Fitz. "There's too much background noise for me, but maybe you can-"

"You can clean that up, can't you?" The woman next to Fitz asked, unconsciously taking over Skye's suggestion. "Find a single point and use cross validation to-

"I can't scrub-" And that's where I tuned out. Mostly because I couldn't understand what they were mumbling back and forth to each other, but it was making a great argument that they were most likely a couple. They were so in sync.

Eventually they came to an agreement, accepting Skye's offer, but I couldn't figure out what either of them said it very fast and at the same time, but I got the gist.

"Your van's here." Coulson informed Skye. "But you were right, we couldn't decrypt the files."

I used my hand to push my hair out of my face. I knew I should've asked for a rubber-band or something. "Well, that's because the encryption is coupled to the GPS." I told him before turning to Skye. "Right?"

She nodded. "Right. Get my van back to that alley and I am back in business." Skye looked at me. "How did you know that?" She asked.

"I might've snooped a little once I hacked into your phone which was synced to your laptop." I admitted.

"Of course you did." Skye began walking- presumably to her van- before stopping and looking back at me. "C'mon. Four hands are better than two."

"Agent May will escort you." That must've been the Asian woman who began following us. "And on your way out, wake up Ward."

* * *

"You live in here?" I asked when I climbed into Skye's van and spotted the small couch against the back doors with pillows and a blanket on it.

"Yep." I shrugged. It was way better than the hovel I was living in.

Agent May stayed outside, guarding the van as Skye and I got started. She only had one computer, but a whole bunch of other equipment that I had never seen before. Then I remembered that I was just a hacker- I hacked a few illegal bank accounts and tracked down one or two deadbeat boyfriends- but Skye was a hacktivist. She lived for stealing and revealing information.

"Call Fitz." Skye ordered, tossing me her phone and I completely expected it to glitch and have the S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol show up, but then I remembered that the bracelet was gone.

"Why do you have Fitz's number?" I asked as I found it in her contacts, but Skye chose not to answer as she set everything up.

" _Hello?_ " Fitz' accented voice answered.

"It's me." I said, having no idea if he even knew who I was. "Skye's sending over the audio files now, but they're not compressed so it might take a minute."

" _Great!_ " Fitz exclaimed. " _I'm getting it now. Tell Skye that when, uh..uh, she gets back, I'll show her my thing._ " I raised an eyebrow and Fitz seemed to realize what he said. " _Not thing! It's, uh, it's not- I'll show her my hardware- my equipment-_ " But then he hung up. Poor guy.

"Hey," Skye looked back at me. "Any particular reason why Fitz wants to show you his thing?" Skye's eyes widened and her mouth opened as I snickered.

"Hurry it up." Agent May ordered and I stopped snickering, suddenly feeling like I had been scolded by a teacher. Skye looked back down at her laptop, but her eye caught mine and we both snickered again.

"That's, uh-" Skye cleared her throat as Agent May narrowed her eyes at us. "That's about it. We can go now."

"Good, let's head back." Agent May went to close the door of the van, only for someone to drop down- from out of nowhere- and tackle her to the ground. I scurried back, ramming myself against Skye as we watched, helplessly, as Agent May was grabbed by the attacker and thrown into the wall of the alley.

"Mike!" Skye exclaimed and once he turned around, I realized that the attacker was Superhoodie himself; Mike Peterson. "What are you doing?!"

"Saving you." He panted, seeing nothing wrong with his actions. "From the scary men in dark suits." I quirked an eyebrow at Skye, but she had no words. Mike's eyes turned to me and he immediately went on the offense again, seeing my S.H.I.E.L.D. sweatshirt.

Skye seemed to realize what he was thinking too. "No, Mike!" He looked at her. "She's a friend! She's not S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Good." Mike nodded. "I saved you, now you're gonna help save us."

"Us?" My question was answered when Mike reached to the side of the van, pulling a small little boy from where he had been hidden. He looked scared, but not _"I Just got kidnapped"_ scared, more _"I don't know what's happening"_ scared. I assumed the kid was Mike's son.

"Don't cry, 'kay?" Mike asked as he lifted his son into the van. Skye and I moved so they'd both be able to get in. "Stay strong for me, Ace. What are we?"

"We're a team." Ace answered and Mike smiled reassuringly at him.

"That's right." The smile, however, left his face when he looked back to me and Skye. "Now drive."

* * *

Mike wanted Skye to stay in the back with him since he didn't know me, so I was forced to drive. Where, you ask? Why, to Union Station, of course. Mike wanted to start a new life without anyone coming after him- hence his need for Skye. He wanted her to erase any and all trace of him and Ace and give them both new identities.

I was, currently, still in the drivers seat and trying to figure out how I had gotten into this mess. Not even seven hours ago, I was just on my way to work, trying to get on with my life and now I was a hostage/probably an accomplice. S.H.I.E.L.D. would, for sure, put that bracelet back on my wrist.

While Skye hacked away on her laptop and Mike tried to assured his son that everything would be fine, I just tried stayed as quiet as I could in the front seat of the van, but that was before I noticed the cars beginning to surround us.

From my position, I could only see the two police cars on the left side of the van and the back van that parked twenty or so feet away on the right. The door opened and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Coulson step out and approach the van with Ward by his side.

"Mr. Peterson," Coulson called through his megaphone, but I didn't take my eyes off of him. "Good morning. We're not a threat; we're her to help, but you're in danger and we need to take you in."

"What did you do?!" Mike yelled and I turned just in time to see veins of glowing red underneath the skin of his face. What the hell was he? "You're supposed to be helping us!" Skye, wisely, said nothing.

Standing up as much as he could in the car, Mike angrily took a deep breath before using all of his inhuman strength to push the side door of Skye's van right off it's hinges.

"Skye!" I yelled when Mike jumped out of the van. She tried to make her way up to the front seat with me while Mike got his son, but he simply grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the train station.

Fumbling, I managed to open the door and rushed towards the front door of the station, but I was stopped when two arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground.

"Get off of me!" I yelled as I thrashed about and was toted back towards the van.

"Stop!" I heard Ward's voice order. "Lydia, Stop!"

"Get the hell off of me! Skye's in there!" Ward finally lowered me to the ground and I pushed him away from me.

"I know that she is." He replied and I hated how calm he was. "Coulson and I are going in to go and get her, but you have to stay out here."

"I'm the one who got her into this mess!" I reminded him. "I'm the one who convinced her to trust you people and now she's being held hostage by some wacko with super strength!" I tried to push past him again, Ward was twice my size and built like a truck.

"Dammit, Lydia." He growled before taking me by the upper arm and pulling me away from the building and towards one of the police cars. With me fighting against him the entire time, Ward opened the door to the car and pushed me inside before closing the door and taking off towards the building.

"Wait!" I yelled as I scrambled upright and banged on the glass. "Ward!" I yelled, but he just continued running towards the station as a few officers exited with Mike's kid. "Ward, get your ass back here and let me out!" I don't know why I bothered; he had already disappeared inside the building and there's no way he'd let me out even if he had heard me. I would have to get out of her on my own.

There was nothing in the backseat of police car that I could actually use to get myself out of there, so I had no choice other than to lay on my back and kick at the window.

I knew that the glass to car doors were meant to hold, but they were only a bit harder to break and, believe it or not, this was not my first time escaping from a police car. Luckily, I was wearing my chunky heeled brown boots that were perfect for the job.

The first two kicks did nothing but send dull vibrations through my legs, but the third cracked the glass a little, the fourth put even more cracks in it and the entire glass shattered on my sixth kick.

Since my hands hadn't been cuffed behind my back like the last time I did this, I was able to get out of the car a lot more easily, but my leg slipped while I was pulling myself out and I ended up stabbing myself on a share of pointed glass that hadn't shattered out with the rest. Thankfully, my adrenaline was pumping so much that I didn't even notice.

I had no idea where Mike had taken Skye, so I had no choice, but to rely on my own instincts.

If I was running from S.H.I.E.L.D. with a hostage, the first thing I'd do is board a train and get as far away as I could, but I knew Mike wouldn't do that. I had seen those officers bringing Ace out of the train station and I immediately knew that Mike wouldn't leave without his son. The best way to look for him would be by going up as high as I could and looking down.

When I changed identities after S.H.I.E.L.D. put that bracelet on me, I had familiarized myself with any and every mode of transportation that could get me out of New York should S.H.I.E.L.D. ever come looking. I knew that there was a door that would take me up the top floor of the building which looked down over the entrances.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one who got the same idea; I saw an officer with a shot gun going into the doorway that would lead to the stairway which lead to the top floor. I didn't hesitate before going after him, but I kept my distance. He had already made it all the way up the stairs in a matter of moments and I was right behind him when I heard a shot fire.

Running up the steps as fast as I could, I saw the officer fire off another shot and Mike was hit- falling over the railing to the floor below. The officer turned his gun towards Skye, who lay on the floor watching with wide eyes and I made my move.

Rushing forward, I grabbed his gun and tried to push it out of Skye's direction, but the officer was a lot stronger than me. I was able to hold my own for a few pulls and tugs before the officer regained control of his weapon. Pulling his arms back, he hit me in the face with the gun.

The last thing I heard before smacking my head on the floor and passing out was Skye yelling my name.

* * *

When I woke up, I had no idea where I was.

I sat up way too fast and my head began pounding. "Ow..." I groaned and shut my eyes. The pounding began to subside, but I wasn't super eager about opening my eyes.

"I was beginning to think you weren't ever going to wake up." A familiar voice said and I opened my eyes and turned to see Skye standing just outside the room...bunk...wherever the hell I was. She was in different clothes and she seemed to be okay despite the fact that she had been with a shotgun wielding psycho the last time I saw her.

"What happened?" I asked as she came and sat on the edge of the bed I was on.

"Well," She crossed her legs. "After you heroically vandalized a cop car to come and save me, you got knocked out and May found us. She took out the guy with the gun who was trying to kill us."

"What about Mike?" I asked. " And Ace?"

"They're fine." She assured me. "S.H.I.E.L.D. took in Mike and we took Ace to live with his aunt until his dad can take him again." I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is planning on letting Mike go?" That didn't sound like them.

Skye shrugged. "Like you said; They're not the same organization they were fifty years ago."

"Well, if we're being completely honest, I only said that so you'd tell them where to find Mike so I could leave." I admitted and she nodded. "Speaking of leaving...why are you still here? Why haven't you jumped back into your Mystery Machine and gotten as far away as you can."

Skye looked down to where he hand was picking at the fibers of the blanket. "Coulson offered me a job." She confessed, looking back up at me to gauge my reaction. "Both of us actually. As consultants."

"Wow..." I wasn't expecting that. "What did you say?"

"I told Coulson that I would take the job...but only if you did." Wasn't expecting that either.

"What?" I asked. "Why?" She shook her head.

"I don't know." She admitted. "Coulson's great and everything but...I don't trust him. I don't think I could ever trust S.H.I.E.L.D... but you? You I trust. I don't know if it's because you're a hacker like me, or because you tried to save me, but I trust you more than anyone else on this plane."

I sighed as I pulled myself up so I could lean against the wall. That's when I felt the pain in my side and remembered stabbing myself on that piece of glass from the window. "I don't know, Skye." I told her. "S.H.I.E.L.D. and me...not exactly the best of friends."

Skye was quiet for a few moments, just looking from her hand to me before she finally asked the question she had been thinking. "What did they do to you?" She asked and I raised an eyebrow. "S.H.I.E.L.D." She specified. "You said before that they ruined your life. How?" I sighed again.

"That...that's a story for another time." I wasn't super eager on sharing. I hadn't done anything wrong, I just...I didn't want to get back into that. "You just need to know that what S.H.I.E.L.D. did is the reason I changed."

Skye furrowed her eyebrows. "Changed what?"

"Everything." I replied. "My name, my habits, my address- my hair and like you said earlier; Coulson is great, but I don't know if I can ever trust S.H.I.E.L.D. again." Skye looked down. "So, I guess I'll have to work on that."

Skye looked up. "You're staying?" I shrugged and winced when I remembered the cut on my side. I'd have to be more careful, that was the second time I forgot about it.

"Where else would I go?"

* * *

I didn't have much from my apartment that I needed to grab; just the clothes that I had, the very few sentimental items I kept and the small bag the contained everything I needed to disappear once S.H.I.E.L.D. found me, which all fit easily inside of one rolling suitcase and a backpack.

An agent had been sent with me to collect my things and after he dropped me off back air field that housed the Bus for the moment.

It didn't take me long to put away my things; The bunks each had one shelf underneath a flat screen TV that hung on the wall at the foot of the bed and a small table built into the space between the head of the bed and the wall which was only about a foot away, so I had no choice, but to but my suitcase and backpack underneath the bed.

"I see you've gotten settled in." I turned around to see Simmons standing just outside of the doorway to my bunk with a medium sized box in her arms.

"Yeah, I try to travel light." I confessed. She nodded with a smile before stepping forward and holding the box out towards me.

"Agent Coulson asked me to give you this." She said as I took it and sat it on the bed. I opened the box and inside sat a black phone on top of a laptop. I'd had to encrypt the passage myself and set up a firewall. "He said that it would be unlikely that you'd have any of your own, for some reason."

"Thanks." I gave her a smile and she gave me one back before leaving my bunk. Once she was gone, I sat down my bunk and looked around.

"Home, sweet home."


	2. Deep End

_Sometimes, the best results come when you are thrown in the deep end._  
\- Natalie Cook

* * *

"Okay," I said to the woman who stood not even three feet away from where I sat restrained on the plane's couch. The man who had handcuffed me was now standing to the side with his gun out and ready if I tried anything. "I was given some really powerful drugs earlier, so if you could recap your whole evil plan and enlighten me as to why I'm being held hostage, that'd be great."

Maybe this wasn't the best place in my story to start. Let's try again

* * *

13 HOURS EARLIER

* * *

"What do you mean I can't go?" I demanded looking at Simmons. "This is my first mission with you guys where I haven't gotten a bag shoved over my head. I'm not missing it because you don't want me getting a little sick."

Okay, maybe I should still explain a bit.

We were in Peru and it was Skye's and my first official mission with the team, however, I wasn't allowed off the place.

"Do you know how many incurable diseases there are in Llactapata?" Simmons asked as she put a new clean bandage on my side. The cut I had got from escaping the police car yesterday was causing me more problems than I thought it would. "There are too many variables and your injury could get infected."

"It's practically a paper cut." I argued and Simmons gave me a look. "Okay, maybe not a paper cut, but it's not a big deal. I'll be fine."

"You _impaled_ yourself." She pointed out and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "I don't want to risk it."

"My body, my rules." I reminded her as I went to move off my bed, but Simmons held up a syringe.

"I don't want to, but I will sedate you." She threatened feebly and I scoffed. I had at least two inches on her and she looked like she had the bone density of a baby bird.

"What's going on in here?" Both Simmons and I turned our heads to see Ward standing in front of the open doorway of my bunk and I let out a sigh of relief. He would make Simmons realize how ridiculous she was being.

"Simmons is threatening to sedate me." I told him. "I'm going with you all to check out the 0-8-4 and she's trying to keep me prisoner in my own bunk."

Simmons rolled her eyes at my dramatics. "The wound in her side only required four stitches, but they're not fully healed. We all have risks of infection even with the necessary vaccines, but Lydia is three times likely to get an infection with an open wound."

Ward crossed his arms and seemed to be thinking. I just knew that he would side with me, so imagine my surprise when he said, "Simmons is right. It's too big of a risk."

"Who asked you, Ranger Rick?' Mature, I know. "I'm going." Standing up from my bed, I did my best to hide the pain from when I moved and went to leave the bunk, only to yelp when I felt a needle enter my skin. I immediately looked to see Simmons quickly removing the needle from my body, but I was stuck on where she had injected me.

"Did you just inject my ass?" I demanded weakly, but everything was slowly beginning to get fuzzy. I blinked a couple of time and everything was back to normal. I looked to Simmons with a smug expression on my face. "I guess it didn't take." Turning around, I went to take a step, only for everything to go black.

* * *

Ward quickly caught Lydia as she fell forward and looked to see that she was already out.

"What did you give her?" He asked Simmons as she moved out of the bunk so Ward could put Lydia on her bed.

"Just a heavy duty sedative." She assured him. "She'll be awake in a few hours."

"She'll be pissed." Ward pointed out and Simmons nodded.

"True." She accepted as Ward stepped out of the bunk and slid the door close. "But she'll be perfectly healthy as well."

* * *

When I woke up, I had a heart attack.

No, not an actual heart attack; I couldn't remember where I was and I was not good with small spaces. After a few moments, I finally noticed the few items of mine inside the bunk and remembered where I was and why. Then I remembered what happened before I went unconscious.

"Simmons, you are going to die." I hissed as I sat up. I went to move off of the bed, only to sit back down when I realized my legs were still kind of wobbly. Whatever Simmons gave me had been strong.

A moment or two later I was fine. After standing up and bending my legs a couple of times to make sure they wouldn't fail me again, I left the bunk...only to have a gun shoved in my face.

"What the hell?!" I yelled without thinking as I immediately threw my hands up in the air. The man holding the gun roughly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the small hall. "Watch it, man hands!" Sure, he was a man, but the insult was still there.

"Well, what is this?" A females voice asked as I was shoved on the couch. I could tell by the accent that she was some Spanish ethnicity. I immediately tried to push myself up and off the couch, but had a gun cocked and pointed at me for my troubles. "You weren't trying to hide one of your agents from me, were you Coulson?"

Now we're at the point from the beginning of the story; The woman, who stood near a tied up Coulson, ordered me tied, but she left me on the couch instead of moving me. I guess she figured that we'd probably come up with a plan if we were together.

"So," I continued as the woman stared at me. "What about that evil plan of yours. I mean, if I'm going to be a hostage, I'd like to know what the end game is." The woman just let out a little laugh and shook her head before returning to Coulson. "Okay, I guess that's a no."

What trouble could Coulson and everyone else have possibly gotten into on the ground that led up to this moment? I was only out for...well, I don't really know how long I was out, but I knew it hadn't been long. The sun was still up and it hadn't exactly been dark when Simmons forcibly sedated me. It only proved how much of a danger magnet S.H.I.E.L.D. was and the armed men around me only acted as a continued reminder. _'What the hell are you doing here, Lydia?'_ I asked myself because, at the moment, I wasn't entirely sure of the answer.

Suddenly, I heard a loud, but muffled crash and I felt the plane shake. I looked to Coulson who looked just as confused as I felt.

The men with guns all immediately began to go and check out the sound, but the woman stopped them. Even in the bad guys, the woman was on top. " _No. Eso es exactamente lo que quieren!_ " She warned, telling them not to go down because that's what Skye and the others wanted. I wasn't sure why she was speaking in Spanish; maybe that's the only language the gun toting gorillas knew, maybe she didn't want us to know what she was saying. Either way, I learned Spanish when I was seven and I'm pretty sure Coulson knew it too.

Unsure of what to do, I decided it was best that I stayed where I was. Mostly because I had no idea what I was supposed to do and I kind of didn't want to get shot.

" _S.H.I.E.L.D. six-one-six,_ " I heard a radio-like voice say from out of nowhere. " _We have radar contact. Requesting confirmation on a change in course. Over._ " The woman pulled her gun out from where it had been tucked in the waist of her pants and pointed it at Coulson.

"Answer it," She demanded. "Or they all learn what a thirty-thousand foot drop feels like."

" _Agent Coulson, are you there?_ " The voice asked. " _You have course confirmation; you are clear straight to the slingshot._ "

I looked to Coulson, trying to figure out why he wasn't trying to figure out of this. That's when I noticed that his hands weren't exactly tied. Thinking that I should try to loosen my own ties, I began shifting as much as I could without drawing attention to myself. I, however, stopped when I noticed a small flying metal bug nearing me. I immediately recognized it as one of Fitz's little camera things that he named after the seven dwarfs. I mean, I'd never seen them in action, but I had walked in on him saying goodnight to each of them as he put them away when I went to get my stitched checked by Simmons.

I caught Coulson's eye and then nodded my head towards the flying thing that was stealthily getting closer and closer to a medium sized metal object that looked like an engine. How I had no noticed that before, I'd never know.

Coulson immediately wound his hands around the pole with the rope and I looked around for something to hold on to; he was obviously bracing himself.

" _Agent Coulson?_ " The voice asked. " _Everything alright up there? We heard you had a little dust up on the ground_."

The woman pointed her gun at Coulson again. "Yeah, we're all good. It's gonna be blue skies from here on out."

I heard a low whirring sound and turned to the metal object to see some blue pulse going through it. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed on to the seat belt that was digging into my lower back and wrapped it around my wrist a couple of times. I did it just in time too because, not even a moment later, a large blast took out a large hole in the side of the plane.

When I was seventeen years old- a few months after I ran away from foster care- I started dating this guy; he was five years older than me and super hot- not the point. Anyway, he took me to this place where they let people play around in a wind tunnel and it was the best time I had even had in my entire life.

This was nothing like that.

I let out a scream as the hole in the plane sucked out one of the gorillas closest to me and I would have been next if it weren't for the seat belt. I kicked as my body was pulled by the air, leaving me a horizontal mess as I tried to keep my grip on the seat belt.

"Lydia, don't let go!" I heard Coulson yell and- despite the immediate danger of falling out of a plane and falling thirty thousand feet to my death- I managed to have a witty comeback.

"Really?" I yelled back. "I thought I'd let go and try to swan dive into the ocean!" I scream again when I felt a hand wrap around my ankle and felt a sharp pain in my wrist as I was yanked back due to the extra weight. I looked to see that one of the gorillas had grabbed onto my ankle as he was almost pulled out of the plane. There was no way that I was going to be able to keep my grip on the seat belt with him hanging onto me and there was no way I was going to die for him.

"Get." Kick. "Off!" I kicked him again, but it didn't do much damage considering I didn't have any shoes on, but- luckily- it worked. It just didn't work fast enough.

"No, no, no!" I grabbed at the seat belt with my free hand as my other one began slipping, but it was no use. I screamed as the seat belt slipped free of my wrist and I was pulled towards the hole in the plane. I was sure that I was going to die.

Luckily, someone upstairs had a different plan.

The air was pushed out of my stomach as someone grabbed me around my waist and slammed me into the wall next to the hole.

"Ward?" I wheezed out. When had he gotten here?

"Go!" He ordered as he pushed me away just as he was tackled to the ground. Uncharacteristically, I acted fast and jumped out of the way. Ward continued to struggle with his opponent on the ground and there was no way I could leave him there.

Looking around for something I could use as a weapon, my eyes landed on a fire extinguisher that hung on the wall. Without even thinking, I crawled towards it, fighting against the wind the entire time before using it to pull myself up. Once I was, I pulled it off the wall only to be pushed down on the ground again by the wind. Thankfully, that only helped me get to Ward faster. Lifting up the fire extinguisher, I pounded it on the gorilla's back twice before Ward was able to push him off. He managed to grab onto a chair near the hole and was pulling himself back towards Ward so I threw the extinguisher at him, sending it and him out of the hole.

"Lydia!" I heard and turned to see that Ward was now gone and Skye was holding onto one of the pillars on the window box near the couch. She held out one of her hands. "I need your help!" Deciding not to question it, I grabbed onto her arm and she pulled me up.  
Skye only took me a little ways before grabbing onto a red EMERGENCY box mounted on the wall and I helped her pry the top off. She immediately grabbed a yellow bag and pulled it to the floor before we crawled with it closer to the hole. It was only my certainty that Skye didn't want to die that stopped me from questioning her.

"Get the straps off!" She ordered and I did as she said without question; unbuckling the black straps that held the yellow cloth together. I was just about to ask what it was when it popped open and I was surrounded by a large yellow raft. Realizing what Skye's plan was, I ducked and let the raft fly over my head and to the hole just as Ward almost fell through. That was too close...

Looking to Skye, who looked just as tired and out of breath as I felt, I couldn't help but smile at her frizzy, messed up look. "Talk about windswept hair."

* * *

"You looked wrecked." Ward commented as I sat down on a plastic crate that was next to him. I was sure I didn't want to know what was inside.

It had taken us three hours to get to the slingshot from wherever the hell we had been over the Pacific Ocean and I was pretty sure that we were all still very tired. It had been a very hectic day- even for those of us who had been sedated through most of it.

Once we got there, mechanics had gotten started on fixing the hole in the plane and the doors to Fitz-Simmons' lab (I hadn't asked for that story yet) while the rest of us tried to wind down from what had happened. Surprisingly, it hadn't taken more than a few minutes; Fitz-Simmons were proud of themselves for getting through something like what happened, May remained as stoic as ever, Ward seemed to recover pretty quickly after almost falling through an airplane to his death, Coulson made sure that his car (Lola) was okay, Skye texted on her phone and me...well, I had to get my stitched redone by Simmon's since they had ripped, but I was feeling pretty good, all things considered.

I gave Ward an incredulous look. "I almost died." I reminded him. "Not to mention the fact that Skye and I totally saved your ass."

"We blew up a plane." I looked up to see Fitz-Simmons making their way down the spiral staircase as they chatted. Fitz held a large cooler in his hand and I wondered why we had one.

"I had a new experience," Simmons continued, oblivious to Fitz's dialog. "You had a new experience, but it was new for all of us."

"They're happy." May noted.

"Hey, c'mon guys. You do not want to miss this." Fitz warned as he and Simmon's made their way to the cargo bay ramp. It hadn't been completely lowered to the ground, so they were able to sit and dangle their feet. I looked at Ward in question, but he just shook his head before standing and making his way over to the two. Knowing I'd have a less than stellar chance getting any answers from May, I made way over too before settling down next to Simmons.

"What are we doing?" I wondered aloud as Simmons opened the cooler and tried to hand me a beer. "I'm not a big beer person." I told her. Turning back to the cooler that sat between her and Fitz, she put the beer in and dug around in the ice before producing a bottle of light pinkish liquid.

"Strawberry lemonade vodka." She said and I let out a little scoff before looking at Ward.

"Okay, since when did Fitz-Simmons become the coolest people on this plane?" I asked as I twisted the top off of the bottle.

"So, it'll take a hundred and eighty days to reach the sun." Fitz began as May and Skye finally made their way over. "Now yes, it would have been faster if they used hydrogen fueled APU's, but they're having fun."

"How many of those have you guys had?" Skye asked when Simmons handed her a beer. May sat down on my other side and Ward took a seat by Fitz.

Simmons sighed playfully. "Skye, it's important, when in the field, to unwind from time to time."

"Especially after a hard day of everyone almost dying." Fitz continued.

"And saving each other." I added and Fitz nodded in agreement.

"Which doesn't happen everyday, right?" Simmons certainly was chatty. "It's an anomaly, an irregularity, not...the norm." She trailed off when she noticed that Coulson had make his way over. He looked rough.

"Speaking of not the norm," He began. "Whose idea was it to blow a hole in the side of the plane?" Everyone got really quiet then. I couldn't even look ashamed or try to avoid his gaze because I hadn't even been apart of the plan.

"Ooh, you guys are in trouble..." I grinned. No one found me funny.

Skye felt the need to speak up. "...May said that the doors were tied to the pressurization, so I thought-"

"So _we_ thought," Simmons interrupted. "It was the only way to release them."

"It was everyone's idea, sir." Ward insisted.

Fitz nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it was quite genius really."

I don't know what punishment or scolding they had expected, but I could tell that Coulson wasn't mad. In fact, he seemed a little proud that they worked together. "Nice work."

" _All clear for blastoff_." We heard a loud, voice say through some kind of megaphone. That seemed to successfully pull everyone's attention away from the conversation and back to the rocket that was about to be sent into space.

"Launching," A nasally voice began and I looked over to see Fitz holding his nose. "In three, two-" Simmons giggled, Ward shook his head good naturedly and even May looked a little amused. The rocket shot up slowly with a burst of purple flames behind his, leaving a lot of smoke in it's trail. "The trajectory will take it beyond the Lagrange point so that it doesn't hit Herschel."

"Yeah," Simmons continued. "And there hasn't been any coronal mass ejections, so it shouldn't lose telemetry."

Ward sighed. "Guys, English."

"I second that." I looked at Simmons. "I had no idea what you just said."

So, for the next half an hour, we watched the rocket go higher and higher until we could no longer see it. After that we didn't really have anything else to do; the plane was still being repaired which really limited what we can do. That's when Fitz-Simmons insisted we play a board game, which wouldn't have been such a bad idea if it were anyone else playing.

The problems started when Simmons and Ward both wanted to be the race car when Monopoly was chosen, then Coulson gave out the money wrong and Skye had to become the bank which led to me being the bank because she was sneaking money. Then, after Skye somehow got May to play, she ended up putting a hotel on each of her twelve properties which bankrupted Fitz, so he started playing with Simmons since they've "Always been a team". The icing on the cake was when Ward rolled a three, sending him to jail and he 'accidentally' knocked the board to the ground.

"I am never playing Monopoly with you people again." Skye announced as she helped me put the pieces away.

"You were the one cheating!" Fitz exclaimed, but Simmons pulled him away before he could say anymore. May had long since retreated to the plane along with Coulson and Ward shook his head in amusement at the two scientists.

"This was fun." I said once everyone was gone and Skye nodded.

"Yeah, it was." She admitted and I saw that her movements had slowed considerably. I looked up from the floor to see that she was thinking about something...hard.

"Skye?" Nothing. "Skye!" Shaking herself out of her head, she looked to me. "What was that?"

"Nothing." She claimed and I gave her a look. "Lydia, seriously, it was nothing." She repeated as she put the lid on the box. "Don't worry about it."

If anything, that made me worry more.


End file.
